Comatose
by TheOrdinaryAuthor
Summary: When Riley is involved in a car crash, her world is turned upside down. But with brain activity continuing, the emotions realise they have a responsibility to help. Can they reach The Core, the centre of Riley's brain to reboot her universe in time? Join the five on an adventure that takes them beyond the known world of Inside Out, as they fight to keep Riley alive!
1. Chapter one: The Crash!

**Welcome to my second Inside Out fic and the third piece of writing on my account. As always, reviews are appreciated and I hope you enjoy this fanfiction.**

Riley Andersen never saw the Maersk, eighteen-wheeler truck coming. Why would she? After all, it had been a joyful evening for the twelve year old. Her parents had braved the rush hour traffic of San-Francisco to take her to see her favourite boyband: "The Vampiers" at Levi's stadium; a special treat. It was on their way home that disaster had struck. Mr Andersen had been driving comfortably with his wife in the passenger seat when the collision had occurred. The truck had skipped a red light, continued at speed and collided with their car head on. Surprisingly there were no fatalities, and five minutes later the family was rescued from the wreckage by the fire department. Mr and Mrs Andersen were relatively unhurt, having only received the usual cuts and bruises. Unfortunately their daughter wasn't so lucky.

That evening Riley was in critical condition. Two days later her condition was stable, but without any improvement in sight. By the end of the week, the doctors had finally broken the news to her parents. It was a simple yet heart-breaking fact: Riley Andersen was lost in a comatose state and the doctors had no knowledge as to when she would wake. The only consolation was that her brain was functioning normally, but this silver lining did nothing to quell the grief of her parents.  
"Won't she get any better doctor?" Mrs Andersen asked through tear filled eyes.  
"I'm afraid we can't be sure at this stage" he replied. "The nature of these injuries makes them unpredictable at best and long-term at worst".  
"Please!" Riley's father pleaded. "Isn't there anything you can do for her? We just want to make sure our little girl is safe". The doctor, a young man in his late twenties could feel the sadness of both parents weighing down on him. He tried his best to comfort them, but he knew inside that it was a futile effort.  
"We can make sure she stays stable... and we'll be keeping a close eye on her around the clock. I promise if she improves, you'll be the first to know. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some tests to run". And that was that. The confrontation was over, and Riley's parents were left alone with their emotions. Riley remained still throughout the ordeal, and remained still as her parents left, drove home and wallowed in their misery. But things were far from quiet in Riley's mind, which had erupted into pandemonium the moment the crash had occurred.

Since Riley had fallen unconscious not a single memory orb had been produced, and the hidden factories that produced them had remained abandoned and still. An anonymous, universal message had immediately been transmitted subconsciously to all entities found in the brain, telling them to cease their work at once. As a result, memories remained uncollected in Headquarters, the Train of Thought hadn't moved in days and the Memory Dump had been emptied as a result of "Amnesia Protocol Defcon One". But the most drastic change concerned the Islands of Personality, which had instantly been plunged into darkness, with or without core memories to fuel them. Unsurprisingly mass hysteria had followed, with mind workers far and wide wandering without jobs or purpose, and several large scale acts of protest had already taken place outside Dream Production Studios, the only department still active. To put it bluntly, nothing less than a full scale meltdown had occurred. And there was no end sight.

In Headquarters, Joy opened her eyes. The past several days had been long and restless for the emotion, but she had tried her best to stay optimistic. "Stay calm…" she had kept telling herself and the others. "We've had problems before, and we just need to sit tight and wait for things to improve". That optimism had quickly started to fade, and morale was at an all-time low between the five. Sadness had taken to napping for sixteen hours a day, whilst she filled the remaining time with a mixture of sobbing and moping around. Anger had also stayed quiet; a rare occurrence from someone as vocal as him. Now he was sat in an armchair, re-reading an outdated copy of his newspaper for the seventh time. Disgust had become a recluse, and had spent the last forty eight hours sulking in the shared bedroom because: "her services were _obviously_ no-longer wanted…. OR needed". To make matters worse, Fear had finally snapped. He had always been teetering on the edge of insanity, paranoia and terror, but "the cataclysm" (his name for Riley's accident) was the last straw. The control panel was littered with dozens of his used coffee cups, and the excess caffeine had turned him into a jumping, jittery mess that had already damaged the useless panel several times. Joy was observing him now, wondering if there was any way she could intervene, any way she could cure the disease that had seemingly infected her friends.

Finally, she knew she had to take a stand, and that was what drove her to step forward and address the other emotions as a leader. Disgust's sarcastic, mocking voice immediately sounded from above.  
"Great. _Juuuuust_ great. You see that guys? Looks like Joy's gonna give us another one of her 'motivational speeches'. Give me a break…"  
"Don't make me come up there Broccoli Breath!" Anger retorted in annoyance. "Her speeches aren't nearly as annoying as your constant whining! Don't know if you've noticed, but none of us have been very wanted OR needed lately".  
"Shut up, SHUT UP" Fear whined suddenly. "All this bickering could give us headaches, or worse: M-M-MIGRAINES! It's best we sit here, safe and sound, until help arrives!" Unsurprisingly, this only infuriated Anger more.  
"What help? Sorry to remind you buddy, but last time Riley got into trouble"  
"We helped!" Joy yelped suddenly. For the first time in days, hope had suddenly appeared in her eyes. "We could save Riley ourselves, just like me and Sadness did when we moved to San-Francisco!" From above, Disgust looked down with uncertainty.  
"Help _how_? Hate to break it to you, but there isn't a nymagical 'reset' button on the console". The others digested this. It was true, even if it was possible to help, they didn't know where to begin. Only Joy noticed Sadness slowly look up from her puddle of tears and begin to speak.  
"A-actually, we may be able to help. Have you ever heard of The Core? I read about it in a mind manual once. It's the heart of Riley's brain, and if we can move the core memories there, we may have a chance to y'know… restart everything. Of course it's a long shot, and may not work. And there's countless dangers along the way, ones that would probably rip us limb from limb. Plus it's far away, like REALLY fa-"  
"Okay Sadness. We understand" Joy said. "But this… 'Core' thingy… could it really help?"  
"I guess so. But this is a journey we would all need to go on… This is just my opinion, but I think we could risk it. Riley… something's terribly wrong with her and I think we have a duty to help. Or nothing…. or maybe something". Joy looked around eagerly, clearly excited by the prospect of helping Riley.  
"Anger?" Joy asked excitedly.  
"Normally I'd think this was some kind of wild goose chase. But if it means helping Riley, I'm in. Besides, it must be better than reading the same old newspapers over and over".  
"What the heck. There's nothing more un-cool than disagreeing with the crowd, so count me in too Joy" Disgust added unexpectedly.  
"Great"! Joy clasped her hands together. "So… Anybody know the way to The Core?" Sadness sighed.  
"I'll get the mind manual" she murmured as she trudged to the bookshelf in the back of Headquarters. The room stayed silent as she did this, but inside Joy was ecstatic. She had a chance to restore the friendship of the five. She had a chance to do her duty. And most of all, she had a chance to save Riley!

 **Reviews are appreciated. Tell me what you thought… was it too long, too short? Was the writing too dialogue heavy or too description heavy? Also, I underestimated the time it would take to update. An update a day is hard to keep up, so I'll try to make a chapter per two days.**


	2. Chapter two: The Plan of Action

**Here it is! Chapter two! Thanks to the… warm reception of chapter one I'm more motivated than ever to bring you this fic, and as always reviews are appreciated. As a heads up, the core memories mentioned near the beginning of this chapter are part canon, part fictional. The orbs chosen by Anger and Joy are canon, whilst the orbs chosen by Sadness, Fear and Disgust are made up. As a last note, this story is set in the same timeline as my first Inside Out fic: Riley's Field Trip, and so Fear's core memory powers Horror Island, an island of my own creation.  
_**

"Okay Sadness!" Joy asked eagerly. "Let's run through this one more time… flashlights?"  
"Check" Sadness replied.  
"How about your mind manual?"  
"Check".  
"Spare batteries?"  
"Check".  
"Map?"  
"Check".  
" _Marshmallows_!"  
Sadness smiled coldly as Anger grumbled to himself. "Check".  
"And most importantly… the core memories?"  
"Check!" the three others replied in unison. Each carried a sack containing a single core memory, the one most important to them. Anger had chosen the yellow and red orb that had previously powered Hockey Island, whilst Disgust had picked out the yellow and green orb that had powered Fashion Island in the past. Sadness had selected the blue and red orb that had arrived after Riley's first rejection at the hands of a boy. Finally, Joy had selected arguably the most important memory of all: the yellow and blue orb that fuelled Family Island.

Days of meticulous planning, research and preparation had gone into the expedition. Sadness had scoured and re-scoured her mind manual over five times, and was now relatively certain she could take them to The Core and back safely. She had later added "hopefully" into the equation.

But all was not well in Headquarters. Fear had almost immediately deemed himself "emotionally unfit" for the quest ahead, and had quietly and cowardly declined. Deep down he knew he should try his best for Riley, but his broken psyche had made that task seemingly impossible. Now he was slumped in a corner, carefully observing Joy as she made the final arrangements.

"Right on time!" Joy exclaimed. As if on cue, five memory chutes emerged from the ceiling, ready to accept them. Joy had insisted on a chute for Fear, adamant that the "whole family" should embark on the quest, and she still clung to the faint hope that Fear would tag along. Eventually she made the decision to try for a final time, and wandered over to Fear timidly.

Fear stared back with a mixture of uncertainty and guilt in his eyes as Joy began to speak. "Hey there champ! I just want to say, we're leaving soon and it would really mean a lot to me, the others _and_ Riley if you would come". The shivering purple emotion took this in, before slowly replying.  
"Sorry Joy. I _want_ to, but…. the danger. I can't handle it, YOU know that!"  
"But we NEED you. Remember all the times you've helped Riley in the past. It was your job to keep her out of trouble, and now she needs you more than ever". Joy didn't notice her voice slowly rising in volume, and her eyes gradually narrowing.  
"Well, well… how do you even know this plan of your will work, huh? What if Riley stays this way and _never_ gets better? You're right, it is my job to think of the worst possible outcomes, so did you think of that?" Fear shot back.  
"Fear, you're practically worse than Disgust and Sadness combined… on a BAD day!" Anger spat out.  
"Thanks _Anger_ " Disgust's voice rang out from the other side of Headquarters, dripping with sarcasm. Joy ignored them.  
"Like I was saying, what is up with you lately? You turn your back on us when we need us most. You hang around doing nothing all day. Even for you Fear, you're acting like a complete scaredy cat!" With that, Joy stomped away defeated, whilst the others looked on helplessly.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, things were still looking bleak. The latest tests showed no improvement, although Riley's parents still visited their daughter's unconscious body every day. The decline of Riley's condition had caused a chain reaction that extended to her parents and their emotions. Her father had been much more reserved and distant as of late, and her mother's emotions were so distraught they had been watching their memory of the Brazilian helicopter pilot almost non-stop. Hope was quickly fading for the couple, who were oblivious towards the quest to save Riley and the four unlikely heroines who had undertaken it.

Somewhere cold, Riley Andersen opened her eyes… or at least tried to. All the energy had drained from her, and it took every ounce of her strength just to continue thinking rationally. She felt as if she was floating in an endless, black void, silent and devoid of life. Slowly, a light extended towards her from the darkness, and a series of faded images flashed through her subconscious. Four ghostly silhouettes of figures unknown, miscellaneous glowing orbs and what appeared to be a giant pillar of white light. She saw them but couldn't comprehend them, as if they were jumbled pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. And the final image: a timer counting down from ten hours, or was it ten days? What did it mean? Riley pondered that very question as the darkness enveloped her, shrouded her mind and as she drifted away once more. One thing was certain; she certainly wasn't waking up on her own.

Back at Headquarters, Joy and the others were finally set. The pipes had activated, and a vacuum of compressed air was delicately lifting the four into the waiting tubes above. Joy closed her eyes; she knew from experience there was a bumpy ride ahead… and that was when a panicked voice sounded above the rush of air.  
"Guys wait!" Fear called out. Joy's face instantly lit up with her signature, radiant style. She saw Fear rushing towards them, clutching the green and purple orb that powered Horror Island. As Fear reached his pipe and braced, Joy called out in delight.  
"What made you change your mind?" she asked.  
"I thought about it… and dying with my friends is much less scary than living with the guilt of not helping Riley. So here I am!" Fear replied. Upon hearing this, Joy laughed.  
"Let's save Riley!" she called out at the top of her voice.  
"Let's save Riley!" her four companions repeated. And as always, all their intentions were genuine, as they soared into space, and off towards adventure…

 **So there was chapter two! On the advice of one of my reviewers, I tried to be more plot relevant and dialogue heavy in my writing, and slightly less descriptive. I also tried to split up my writing more clearly, so reviews are needed now more than ever! Chapter three coming soon!**


	3. Chapter three: Thinking with Portals

**Chapter three is here! Thanks to all the people who have supported me so far, the ride will only get wilder. As always, reviews are appreciated, and enjoy the chapter. This chapter will focus on making Sadness useful, and will also contain Sadness/Joy friendship moments. The adventure begins here!**

Sadness slowly opened her eyes and got to her feet. Around her lay the still unconscious figures of Joy, Fear, Disgust and Anger, and it took Sadness a few moments to piece together what had happened. She glanced upwards and saw the ends of five chutes suspended five metres in the air, and suddenly it all made sense. They had landed badly from their transit in the pipe system and had been knocked unconscious. But for how long had they been out? Her signature pessimism screamed that their mission was over before it had even begun, but her recently found positivity argued otherwise.

Since Riley's accident, the day and night cycle of her mind had been inactive, and its inhabitants had quickly found themselves in a world of perpetual night. Sadness squinted through the darkness, trying to survey her surroundings. To her left lay the entrance of the now abandoned Goofball Island and to her right, in the distance, laid an entrance to Long Term Memory, an endless labyrinth of memories that she was all too familiar with. But something was different about the latter, something important to the quest. Silently, Joy began to wake.

"Ughh…. Sadness… Where _are_ we?" Joy asked groggily.  
"Don't worry Joy, we're near Goofball Island… but the others are still out, so we can't move just yet" Sadness replied.  
"What happened?"  
"We fell from the pipes and I was the first one to wake up. To be honest, I thought you four were all dead at first, but then I noticed you were still breathing".  
"Good to know! Now what's our next move? This is all on you Sadness!"  
"Well I'll run through my plan with you again. It's not like we have anything better to do" Sadness said as reached for her mind manual. She opened it and began to read. "In the event of a C-class meltdown scenario, emergency gateways will be opened, located at all preliminary entrances to Long Term Memory". Sadness paused to wipe her glasses. "These gateways lead to the further brain. Please note, any and all personnel will need to prove that they are genuine before being allowed through by The Enforcers. Once through, please follow the designated pathways to The Core, your destination". Sadness looked t Joy eagerly, but Joy barely seemed to have registered the information.  
"Could you run through that one more time please… in English?" Joy finally enquired. Sadness sighed; she had always known any and all intellectual work would eventually fall to her.  
"Basically we travel to Long Term Memory and walk through a portal. Then we follow the signs to The Core". Joy nodded in understanding, and as if on cue, the other emotions began to wake. She beamed at sadness.  
"Thanks Sadness, I don't know what we'd do without you!"

Once the five had all recovered, which had included a round of marshmallows roasted on Anger; Sadness addressed them again as a group.  
"See the entrance to Long Term Memory over there?" she said, gesturing to her right.  
" _Obviously_ " Disgust muttered under her breath.  
"Well we should probably start there" Sadness concluded. This drew a round of applause from Fear, who looked relieved.  
"Wow! That sounds surprisingly…. safe. Great planning Sadness!" Fear said happily. Although Sadness was far too shy to admit it, her heart had swelled with pride upon hearing this. But the moment was shattered by Anger, who had been cracking his knuckles impatiently since he had awoken.  
"Hate to remind you people, but time is a factor here. Let's get moving" Anger reminded them.  
"Anger's right" Joy agreed. "We need to get moving, for Riley".

The five began to slowly move towards Long Term Memory. They were silent, as the anticipation built inside each of them, and as the gate drew closer and closer they began to notice a tall, slender figure standing in the distance. But as they neared the halfway point, a terrible rumbling sounded from below, a noise that chilled them to the core. It was the unmistakable sound of gates bursting open, and the loud thud of footsteps. Joy raced towards the edge of the Memory Dump… and that was when she saw him.

Jangles The Clown had broken free, his huge form travelling towards them at a frightening pace. A toxic mixture of panic and fear seized each of the emotions, particularly Fear, who screamed and began to run towards the gate as fast as his legs could carry him. For once, there was no disagreement from Disgust or Anger.  
"RUN!" Anger bellowed, and the group began to follow Fear, with Jangles in hot pursuit. Although they were swift, Jangles' huge legs gave him a distinct advantage, and he was gaining ground fast. Disgust screamed and threw herself to the left as one of Jangles' huge legs stabbed down above her. She was lucky. An inch more to the right and she would have been pulverized.

The gate drew ever nearer as the five ducked and weaved around Jangles. If they could only reach Long Term Memory they would be safe; the corridors there being far too narrow for the sadistic clown to pass through. Fifty metres to go. Forty. Thirty. Twenty! Joy's eyes opened wide. They were going to make it! Fear threw himself forward into the maze and was closely followed by Disgust, Anger and Joy. Only Sadness lagged behind, desperately dodging the angry blows of Jangles. She reached the others… and cried out as she was clipped by Jangles' foot. Sadness was thrown forward violently, landing awkwardly on her back. She was safe, but that safety had come with a price.  
"Sadness!" Joy cried out, rushing over to her friend. "Are you okay?"  
"Maybe… I think I'm hurt" Sadness replied, slowly and painfully getting to her feet. Joy inspected the damage whilst the others looked on in concern. The blue emotion's sweater had been badly torn in several places, and her normal light hue had been bruised to a darker shade of navy blue, but otherwise there was no major damage.

Joy breathed a sigh of relief. Sadness: her friend was safe. She doubted they would be able to reach The Core without her, and so for the sake of Riley she was grateful. But now it was time to continue. Standing before them was a black, humanoid figure, easily twice as tall as Joy and covered from head to toe in cold, iron armour. Joy approached the figure timidly, clearly intimidated by his large stature.  
"Is this the portal out of here?" she asked.  
"Who are you?" the figure replied, answering her question with a question.  
" _Who_ are _you_?" Disgust asked distastefully, clearly unsatisfied with the answer. The figure took a step forward, sending a small shockwave throughout the corridor. The five quickly retreated.  
"Who am I? I am a member of this child's E-force, an Enforcer, and have been dispatched to keep order during this emergency situation. Please state your identities and intentions or you will be ejected from this quadrant". Upon saying this, the Enforcer took a step backwards and waited for their response.  
"We're Riley's emotions" Joy replied. "I'm Joy, and this is Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. We control Riley when she's awake, and we're heading for The Core to try and fix all of this". The figure considered this, before pointing his finger accusingly.  
"I have heard of the five emotions… and as A-class personnel I would be inclined to let them through. But do you have any proof? Where I come from, there are viruses that can copy appearances down to the last detail, so how do I know you are who you say you are?" Joy looked at the others nervously, unsure of what to do. "Well?" the Enforcer continued.

Joy and the others considered their options, whilst the Enforcer waited patiently. Finally, Sadness took a step forward, clutching the sack she had been carrying. She pulled back the fabric, revealing a brightly glowing red and blue orb. Despite his intimidating demeanour, the Enforcer recoiled in shock.  
"A core memory!" he said in awe. "They DO exist!"  
"These came from Headquarters" Sadness said. "Only the emotions have access to them".  
"Yeah… is that proof ENOUGH for ya?" Anger added. There was a silence of thirty seconds during which no-one moved. The Enforcer spoke at last.  
"I accept your authentication" he said. "You may pass". With that he stepped aside and ran past the emotions at breakneck speed. The five watched as he joined a team of four other Enforcers, produced a flaming trident and ran towards Jangles ferociously.

Now alone, the five looked towards their target. What they saw was a purple circle of light, solid yet seemingly transparent at the same time. Beyond the portal they could just make out an unknown landscape: the lands beyond. Each felt the same mixture of fear and anticipation as they stepped towards a world unknown, a world that they hadn't even known existed until only days ago. Joy gave the others a reassuring smile as they took the final steps forward, and at last entered the portal, and the unknown depths beyond.

 **Sorry for the delays on chapter 3, I had a busy day yesterday. Please tell me what you thought, and chapter four is coming soon…**


	4. Chapter four: Nerves of Steel

**In this chapter, chapter four, the emotions will enter the labyrinthine Nerve Forest on their quest to save Riley. But when a mysterious figure appears, how will they react? Since the last chapter focused on Sadness, this one will focus slightly more on Fear. Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far and I hope you will continue to support me through to the bitter end of the fic! The Core is still 2-3 chapters away after this, so the excitement will continue to build. As always, enjoy the chapter and reviews are appreciated.**

Joy and the others were flying, or to be precise: falling through a blinding vortex of light. After entering the portal located in Long Term Memory they had instantly been thrown into the dizzying tunnel, and now they were being helplessly dragged to their next destination. They tumbled uncontrollably for what felt like hours before finally being deposited softly on a scarlet coloured terrain.

Fear was the first to rise, surveying the group's surroundings nervously.  
"Where are we?" Anger demanded.  
"L-looks like we're in the Nerve Forest!" Fear replied, twitching uncontrollably.  
"And how _exactly_ do you know _that_?" Disgust enquired.  
"The sign!" Fear responded. With a shaking hand he pointed to a neon sign reading: "Welcome to the Nerve Forest… Watch your step!" Upon hearing this Disgust blushed in embarrassment, but luckily no-one had noticed her mistake.

Beyond the sign was a barren "forest" stretching out in all directions. The soft scarlet landscape bore no grass, although groves of nerves had sprouted from the ground at irregular intervals, with many stretching high into the air. These had taken the shape of trees, with pulses of electricity flowing quickly between the trunks; the electrical signals and impulses of Riley's brain.

Fear wandered over to the nearest grove in fascination, his eyes transfixed on the pulsating "branches" as thousands of signals were transmitted each second. Normally he would have immediately sensed danger, but somehow he found the twitching, tense trees relatable, both in appearance and function. He found it fascinating that in a wasteland like this, anything could be so alive. Inside he breathed a sigh of relief; maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Satisfied that they had arrived safely, the group now looked towards Sadness for leadership, who hastily produced her mind manual and began to read.  
"Once through the portal, it is important to navigate the surrounding forest with caution. Any contact with nerves could result in a fatal shock, so be sure to stay on the designated pathway. Once through the forest, follow the plains of logical thought to the nearest settlement, and await further instructions".

Sadness closed the manual, and began to search the immediate area for a path, or any way out of the clearing they had been deposited in. The others joined the search, and eventually Fear found it, nestled inconspicuously behind a mound of dirt. He signalled towards the others, and as a group they began to follow the path deeper into the forest.

After several long hours, and several close calls with particularly long and invasive branches, the group found themselves on the crest of a small hill. Joy had suggested they rest there, a proposal that was met with gladness from the others. Despite the high morale of the group, clearly frustrated with their lack of progress, Anger finally decided to speak his mind.  
"We shouldn't rest for too long" he said scornfully. "We don't know how big this forest is, and we could be walking for days at this rate".  
"Hate to say it, but I agree with Anger" Disgust added. "If I see another patch of the same-old boring trees, I swear I'll pass out". The five sat in silence for several seconds before Joy attempted to diffuse the situation.  
"Sure, we don't know how big this forest is, but we could find out!" she suggested.  
"And how would we do THAT?" Anger asked.  
"Well this hill's pretty tall… if I could just get on Fear's shoulders; I may be able to see over the canopy and into the distance".  
"Wow... good idea Joy" Sadness whispered quietly.  
"Are you sure you want to climb onto my shoulders Joy? _You_ could fall, or worse, _I_ could get shoulder compressions!" Fear breathed in concern.  
"C'mon, it's worth a try!" Joy replied. With that, she began a crude attempt to mount Fear's shoulders.

Fear didn't protest. He had learnt over his years of service that is was easier to simply allow Joy to do her own thing. All he did was focus on staying balanced… that is until he saw _them_ in the distance.  
"Wait" Fear whispered. "Look over there". The group followed his trembling finder and gasped. A motionless hooded figure was stood ten or so metres away, silently watching them.  
"Hello… We're the emotions, so who are you? Do you know the way out of here?" Fear asked. There was no reply, as the figure continued its silent observation. Fear asked again, and that was when they ran. Sprinting into the forest, the reaction from Anger was instantaneous.  
"After him!" he shouted, and the group of emotions began to give chase.

What followed was a pursuit of epic proportions. The figure sprinted through the forest, ducking and weaving between the deadly trees. He was fast, but the emotions were faster! Joy and the others eventually had to resort to their flashlights in order to peer through the darkness, whilst ahead of them they could still make out the figure fleeing from them. Sadness and Disgust lagged behind, but Joy and Anger's legs carried them forward with renewed strength, and through sheer force of will the gap began to close. But as soon as their advantage had arisen, it was cruelly snatched away again as the trees began to thicken once more, and the gloomy mouth of a cave loomed up in the distance. The figure threw itself through in desperation, the emotions only seconds behind. Inside the cave however, any sense of hope Joy had quickly evaporated as she spotted the figure's target. At the very back of the cave stood another portal, the figure moving towards it at breakneck speed

In a final attempt at communication, Anger threw his flashlight, just as they were approaching the portal. The flashlight arced through the air, coming down hard on the figure's head, who in turn stopped and turned to face their pursuers. Through the shadows, the emotions just had time to make out a single wisp of bright, cobalt blue hair, before the figure stepped backwards into the portal, disappearing from sight. Anger started forward, but immediately after there was a flash of light as the portal closed, leaving the five alone once more. For what seemed like an eternity they stood perfectly still, slowly processing the events that had just transpired. Who was the figure? Why were they spying on them? And what did they want? The more answers they desired, the more questions were created, but one thing was certain; they only knew one emotion with hair like that.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Riley became aware of herself once more. Since the accident she had experienced several bouts of awareness, but never consciousness, and these lucid dreams were always accompanied by bizarre visions of an unknown origin. She shuddered in her mind's eye as another series of images were painfully transmitted to her. Why did they always show the same five figures? There were no answers for Riley either, only confusion. Eventually she glimpsed the last of the images: a clock counting down from eight days. It had been ten days not long before, and Riley didn't dare imagine what would happen when it reached zero. All she knew was that time was steadily running out for her, as if an invisible net was closing in, and that she had to find a way to wake up before it was too late. Finally, as the vision began to fade and another minute elapsed on the clock, Riley's heart-rate dropped slightly on the hospital room monitor, and then returned to normal…

 **So there was chapter four, hope you liked it! What adventures await our five heroes next? Who is the mysterious hooded figure? All will be revealed soon enough! In this chapter, I tried to raise the stakes, so as always, reviews are appreciated and chapter five is coming soon!**


	5. Chapter five: Love VS Logic!

**Chapter five! Can't believe this was received well enough for me to get this far. In chapter five, new challenges await the five emotions on their quest to save Riley. As always, reviews are appreciated, and enjoy the chapter.**

Joy yawned. After the group's antics in the Nerve Forest, their quest had taken an unexpected turn for the worst. In an attempt to find the correct path again, the five had become hopelessly lost. It had taken the five three days before they had finally stumbled out of the labyrinth and onto the Plains of Logical Thought: the next step on their journey. They had also found no signs of the mysterious hooded figure since their fateful encounter on the hill, leaving that particular mystery unsolved.

Due to their unexpected detour, group morale had quickly plummeted to a new low, and the emotions were looking more dishevelled than ever. Sadness' sweater had become even more torn up since her encounter with Jangles The Clown, Anger's shirt and tie had become a crumpled mess and Fear's single strand of hair was crooked and bent. Disgust's makeup had long since worn away and Joy's normally tame hair had become messy and wild.

To make matters worse, Sadness' mind manual had failed to mention just how far away the "nearest settlement" was, and so she and the others had been wandering the plains for another day, on a seemingly endless road to nowhere.  
"This is getting _ridiculous_ " Disgust cut in. "If we don't get _somewhere_ soon, I'm officially gonna give up hope".  
"It is true" Fear added. "That the longer we keep this up, the higher the chance we'll collapse from exhaustion, and I don't think I need to explain why that would be BAD.  
"What are we looking for again?" Joy asked the others.  
"Some town or something" Anger replied. "Too bad the useless mind manual didn't tell us what exactly that is".  
"What if we _never_ get there?" Sadness pondered. With that the group fell silent again, having shared their thoughts and feelings on the unfortunate matter at hand. Several minutes later a shadow pierced the otherwise empty landscape and the emotions turned to look at another peculiar rock formation. These were relatively common on the plains and consisted of a rock-like substance formed into unusual shapes. From question marks to crying faces and post boxes to puppies, all manner of formations had appeared, and the emotions had no reason to believe this one was any different… that is until it spoke.

The disembodied voice came suddenly, and caught Joy and the others completely off guard. It was calm, and addressed them like a polite stranger would.  
"Hello and welcome. Who are you?" it asked. It spoke with a thick, male British accent: kind, but with a hint of something else. Sadness wondered whether it was intrigue or malice. It took the flabbergasted emotions several seconds to respond, before Joy at last addressed the hidden stranger.  
"We're Riley's emotions. We're looking for The Core, do you know where it is?" she asked.  
"Ah yes! The Core, one of my many spirit brothers! I assure you it isn't far from here; certainly no more than a day's travel. And before you ask, you're on the right path, that much I'm sure".  
"So who exactly are you" Fear asked quietly. The voice heard him.  
"Why I'm The Hub of Logic of course! Every time a decision is made I'm there, assessing whether that decision is logical or not. And that decision making directly affects everything else in the brain, whether or not you all know it, making every move the boy makes partly my doing". The others absorbed this information and almost believed him, aside from the one crucial mistake the voice had made.

"Don't you mean _the girl_?" Sadness responded cautiously. "This is Riley's head after all". Upon hearing this, the voice let out a long, baritone laugh.  
"Boy, girl, both, either…. Does it matter? I simply do my job, and I am more than familiar with your job too. Logic is a trait we all possess, irrespective of colour or creed, gender or identity, so there is no logic in me factoring the information into my process". Joy nodded in understanding.  
"You call yourself the Hub of Logic, but where exactly are _you_? Do you even have a body?" Joy asked.  
"Look to your right. Do you see anything different about that pile of stones?" The emotions inspected the pile more closely, and sure it enough it was slightly bigger, with a more pronounced shape than others they had encountered. "But once again, it is not logical to dwell on these matters. I can choose to inhabit all or none of these talismans at once, but it won't ultimately affect my job or anything else for that matter" the Hub continued. Nonetheless, despite the voice's impressive credentials, Anger wasn't impressed.  
"Well we'd love to stay and chat… but we have a job to do, so if you could just point us to The Core that would be great" Anger said. There was long pause before The Hub of Logic responded again.  
"I'm sorry… but I can't let you do that" the voice retorted suddenly.

With that there came a great rumbling from below, as the very ground shook beneath the emotions. Pillars of stone shot up from the ground and soared into the air, before finally crashing down again. The solid surface beneath Joy gave away, as a large crater swallowed them all. The laughter, louder and crueller this time, sounded again as layer upon layer of stone fell, entombing the five in a new prison. When the chaos finally subsided, the emotions were left in the dark, with only the luminescence of the core memories to provide light.

Joy coughed in the dusty atmosphere of the tomb whilst she and the others desperately searched for a way out. Only when they realised there was none, did the voice speak again.  
"I admire you courage and determination" it began. "But your quest is simply nonsensical, and I cannot allow it to continue".  
"And _why_ exactly is that?" Disgust shot back in a mixture of anger and fear.  
"There is simply no logical evidence to support your claim that the mission will be a success. This brain is a tightly knit and intricate community, and for all you know there may be beings working on the problem as we speak. Five emotions taking the fate of the child into their own hands, on a ragtag rescue mission is simply ludicrous, and that is why I have decided to trap you here". The voice fell silent again, whilst Joy tried to put her flaming passion for Riley into words.  
"B-But don't you see? Look how far we've come though?" Joy pleaded. "If our love for Riley can take us this far, how do you know it can't see our job through to the end?!" Sadness joined the protest.  
"Joy's right. Riley may be counting on _us_ to save her, and how do you know that isn't the truth? Without us, Riley may stay like this forever". Anger was next.  
"I agree with Sadness" Anger shouted accusingly. "Who are you to tell us what is and isn't right for Riley? We know her better than anyone!" Disgust then added to the fray.  
"And _what_ is up with your voice? Do you have any idea how snobby and elitist you sound? You say you're full of logic, but I think you're really a lunatic!" Finally, Fear voiced his concerns.  
"Don't you see?" Fear told the entity. "By keeping us trapped here, you may be doing Riley more harm than good… Don't you want the best for her? Without Riley, none of us would even be here!" There was long silence as the Hub processed the information. Finally, the emotions heard a long sigh.  
"Love… I don't understand?" the voice asked. This query was conveyed in a calm tone of voice, but deep underground, in his central processor, he was struggling. Logic and Love were conflicting ideas, and the almost computer-like entity was struggling to process such an abstract concept. He asked the same question again, but no answer came.  
"What is….? How….?" The voice struggled, and that was when his fragile systems broke down completely. Beneath the ground, hundreds of thousands of connections instantly flared and went dead, and the solid stone pillars disintegrated into dust, freeing the emotions. Joy and the others spent several minutes recovering, and then they went on their way…

Several hours later, the emotions stopped and made camp. In the perpetual twilight of Riley's mind, Joy and the others fell asleep quickly, leaving only Sadness to ponder the day's events. The day had been a close shave, and Sadness didn't know how much despair she could take before she would simply… break. As she lay down by the campfire, and prepared to sleep, she noticed something in the distance. She strained her eyes and realised it was the same hooded figure from the Nerve Forest. Silently waiting. Silently watching… always watching. Not wanting to disturb the others or start a conflict, Sadness allowed the darkness of sleep to swallow her. And with that the day was over.

 **So that was chapter five! Chapter six and the exciting climax are coming soon, so stay tuned for that! As always reviews are appreciated, and please check out some of my other stuff below:**

 **My tumblr ask blog for Inside Out:** **blog/askemotions**

 **My regular tumblr blog for cool stuff:** **blog/pokefanjack**

 **Check them out, they're pretty cool! Followers/Subscribers are also greatly appreciated there!**


	6. Chapter six: Safe House?

**Chapter six is here! I apologise for the time I took to update; there was a network error preventing me from accessing my account. Depending on the reception this gets, this may be the 3** **rd** **last chapter. There will also be quite a lot of my own "home-grown" world-building in this chapter, so get ready for an awesome mix of the five emotions, new OC's and some familiar faces! As always, reviews and follows are appreciated, and enjoy the chapter. I would also love if you could check out some of my other stuff below, to help me out in the long run!**

 **My tumblr ask blog for Inside Out:** **blog/askemotions**

 **My regular tumblr blog for cool stuff:** **blog/pokefanjack**

 **My other Inside Out fic, "Riley's Field Trip":** **s/11457111/1/Riley-s-Field-Trip**

· **My analysis on why Riley has mixed gender emotions:** **s/11461457/1/Four-theories-as-to-why-Riley-Anderson-has-mixed-gender-emotions**

Riley Andersen forced her mind's eye open once more. It seemed to become a more strenuous and mind boggling task each time, but Riley had to know. She needed another set of visions, something, anything to tell her what was happening both outside her mind and in it. But this time the images she saw were blurrier and less focused, as if the connection she once had was fading. The five figures again. Some kind of… village? And the same, unrelenting clock, now with only two days remaining. A morbid sense of panic gripped Riley, just as the images faded to nothing, and darkness engulfed her mind once more.

Meanwhile on the Plains of Logical Thought, salvation had finally arrived. As Joy and the others stumbled onto a paved, stone path, they paused and took in the beautiful sight before them.  
"Oh. My. God" Disgust said in awe. Several metres away, a polished oak sign read: "Backup Memory. Emotion training". Joy giggled.  
"I don't know what it means… but I like it!" she said. Although she hadn't expected such an idyllic destination, in truth she was simply grateful for escaping the monotony of the plains. At that point she was willing to accept any blessing that came her way.

The five took their first steps through the welcoming steel gates, observing the buildings around them. Polished marble and stone villas lined the peculiar streets, which were transparent and crystal clear. Beneath her feet, Sadness could make out endless rows of glowing white memory orbs, unused and ready for transportation to Headquarters. In the very heart of the community stood a white marble and gold town hall, built in the traditional Greek stile. The emotions had never seen anything like it; it was certainly more decadent and unpractical than anything they had ever experienced in their years of service. Even Disgust had to admit, she would take the village over "bland-old Headquarters" any day! Whilst the land they had come to know was sterile and industrial, their new surroundings were homely and luxurious.

In truth, the beauty of the village impressed the emotions so much that they failed to notice the beaming figure running directly towards them.  
" _WELCOME BACK_!" the figure shouted in a warm, bubbly, female voice. The emotions turned to face her and gasped. Before them stood pink skinned, smiling figure, and not dissimilar to their own appearance as emotions, wearing a flowing blue summer dress and a flower in her hair. She threw herself at the emotions, giving each a hug as if they were an old friend.  
"Who are _you_?" asked Fear nervously.  
"Don't you remember me?" she replied. "I'm Love of course! We met during the development program? But of course, the memory wipe _would_ make you forget!" Upon hearing this, all five eyed her suspiciously.  
"If you're an emotion" Anger demanded. "What are you doing here?"  
"Don't you know?" she said again in her bubbly voice. "This is the training centre, see. It's where we emotions receive our training before being sent to big, important Headquarters! I haven't been called yet, but I have a hunch it'll finally happen soon!" Sure enough, each of the five slowly began to feel a nagging sense of Déjà vu, as if they remembered something yet just couldn't quite pin down the details.  
"So this is where we started out?" Sadness asked suddenly. "And we just can't remember?"  
"You hit the nail right on the head Sadness! Did you carry on taking those depression meds I gave you? You seem much more upbeat than I remember! But you must be tired, c'mon; I'll take you to the house of leadership! Who knows, you may even get to meet the boss!" Love turned and began to lead the five towards the hall, the others following enthusiastically. However, there was one peculiar thing that only Joy noticed: a surprising lack of life in the town. During their short journey downtown, she failed to notice so much as a single other mind worker. Although it perplexed her, she quickly dismissed any negative thoughts; after all, what could be wrong in paradise?

The group was led under a stone archway, into the hall, up a wide, spiral staircase and down a corridor, until they eventually came to a door. Love fumbled for a moment but eventually produced a key, which she used to unlock the door. What lay beyond however was a stark contrast to the rest of the village. The room had a similar layout to Headquarters, except each and every surface was made of cold steel, and the monitor showed only surveillance footage of the whole town.  
"Welcome…" Love paused for effect. "To the control centre!" Behind the control panel sat a figure with their back turned to them, who seemed to be interested in the screen. "You'll never believe who turned up!" Love continued.

Upon hearing this, the figure nodded and swivelled his chair around to face the new arrivals. What the emotions saw next however, they never could have predicted. What they saw was Sadness, or at least someone who looked at Sadness, inspecting them intently. The same icy blue hair. The same beige sweater. The same pale blue skin. Only one detail was different: this Sadness was male.  
"So… what brings you back here?" he asked. "I was sure you left us for good… but you proved me wrong". If he was expecting a reply, he would be disappointed. The others were far too shocked to speak. Noticing this, the new Sadness continued. "There is a reason why this town is called backup memory. Backup memory orbs. Backup ideas. They're all stored here, including backup emotions. Truth be told, I was on my way up to headquarters only months ago. Something about a fiasco involving Joy and Sadness going missing. I thought it was finally my turn, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. So here I am now."

"Maybe you should meet the team" he said in a more reassuring tone. "Re-educate yourself on old company". He pushed a button on the console and a door flew open, a crowd of bustling emotions pushing their way through it. Amongst them stood a male version of Disgust, female counterparts for Anger and Fear, and another new emotion that they didn't recognise. This emotion was slightly older than the rest, coloured grey and wore a designer business suit and wide rimmed spectacles. On his wrist sat a heavy steel watch, its hands strangely counting backwards.  
"I'm Anger" the red emotion began.  
"You know me as Fear" the female Fear added.  
"Obviously I'm Disgust" the male Disgust said. Finally the grey emotion stepped forward.  
"And I'm Re-Regret… _why couldn't get it right the first time_?" The emotion pondered the question silently, but smiled when he noticed Love.  
"Hi Honey!" Love shouted, running over to Regret and planting a kiss on his cheek. This caught the rest of the emotions off guard, and Regret eventually explained awkwardly.  
"I regret not telling you all now… but Love and I are an item now!" he explained.  
" _It was me last week_ " the male Disgust muttered under his breath. The male Sadness heard this and took control back.  
"Anyway…" Sadness said, addressing his guests directly. "It would probably jog your memory more if you were to watch this short video. Are you thirsty? Fear, why don't you fetch them some cocoa?" He pressed another button on his console as Fear left the room. Joy also noticed that Love and Regret had "mysteriously" gone missing.

Several seconds later, the screen came to life, a brightly coloured message appearing. A robotic voice then began to speak. "Know your purpose, and welcome to the emotional orientation program! Luckily for you, a child has been born bearing you as one of its emotions. Your baby will be… Female! Here you will embark on a nine month training program, and I am pleased to announce that the first of you that will be deployed is… Joy (female)" The voice continued for several more minutes, showing a wide variety of images ranging from intriguing, to funny, to nauseating. Meanwhile, the female Fear passed around steaming mugs of hot cocoa, which the main five accepted gratefully. It had been a long and tiring journey, and the warm liquid helped to bring them back to their senses. The video droned on and on, seemingly endlessly. Eventually the words began to blur together, and the picture became fuzzy and unfocused. Was it just Joy's imagination, or was she feeling slightly drowsy?

The rest of the emotions were feeling it too; a strange, almost unnatural sleepiness that invaded every corner of their consciousness, dragging their attention away from the educational video. Joy frowned. Was there something in her drink? There certainly was something strange, a bitter aftertaste that lingered on the tongue. Almost simultaneously, the five began to slip into unconsciousness, one after the other in a domino effect. Joy looked around the room. Male Sadness was observing at her coldly, and the warm welcoming smiles of the other three had melted away like ice. Joy watched as a door opened on the opposite side of the room, and a hooded figure entered, the same from the Nerve Forest days before. As she toiled on the line between consciousness and unconsciousness, the figure removed his hood, revealing bright yellow skin, cobalt blue hair and a strong masculine face. The only difference was his expression: stone cold and completely devoid of joy. In the last seconds before Joy blacked out, he spoke.  
"Did you like the cocoa?" the Male Joy sneered. "We know you're heading for The Core and your entire pathetic plan as well. And you and your friends… let's just say you're going on a little trip".

 **Reviews are appreciated, chapter seven coming soon.**


	7. Chapter seven: Trading Places

**Chapter seven is here! Depending on reviews I get, this may or may not be the penultimate chapter, so your feedback is more important than ever! I would also love if you could check out some of my other stuff below, to help me out in the long run!**

 **My tumblr ask blog for Inside Out:** **blog/askemotions**

 **My regular tumblr blog for cool stuff:** **blog/pokefanjack**

 **My other Inside Out fic, "Riley's Field Trip":** **s/11457111/1/Riley-s-Field-Trip**

· **My analysis on why Riley has mixed gender emotions:** **s/11461457/1/Four-theories-as-to-why-Riley-Anderson-has-mixed-gender-emotions**

Sadness and Joy were aboard the train of thought, steadily making their way back to Headquarters. They had reached The Core, revived Riley and their mission had been a complete success! Sadness looked with fondness towards the tower, the tower that had been her home for as long she could remember. But then her eyes opened wide with horror as she saw a figure waiting on the tracks. It was the ghostly, enraged figure of the "other" Joy, his face twisted into a vile grimace of a smile. And then her whole world turned upside down as she realised someone had removed the tracks ahead of the train, and both emotions screamed in terror as they shuddered over the edge and into the abyss below. The rush of wind was deafening as they hurtled through the air. The train had disappeared, and now it was just the two of them, soaring to impossible heights over the Memory Dump. Then gravity began to take its toll, and before Sadness knew it she was falling… falling… falling…

Sadness woke up. Her first reaction was one of relief; it was only a nightmare, but a terrible one at that. The important thing was it wasn't real. She moved her hands up to rub her face… or at least tried to. It was then she realised her arms were bound tight behind her back.

Sadness glanced at her surroundings frantically. Sat adjacent to her was Joy, who was still sound-asleep. On her opposite side sat Fear, awake but sulking quietly, and beyond him was Anger and Disgust, both unconscious. She was facing a path stretching far into the distance, and was sitting on some kind of bridge. On either side lay a black void; similar to the Memory Dump, yet with no end in sight. After a while, Sadness became aware of an intense light behind her, with considerable heat to boot. It was then she decided she had to try to contact Fear; it was her only hope.  
"Psst… Fear? Do you have any idea where we are?" Sadness asked quietly. Fear took several seconds to reply, clearly reluctant to respond at all.  
"I'm not sure… This place… it feels strange. Surely YOU know Sadness. You're the one with all the mind manuals after all!" Fear sputtered. It was true. Normally Sadness could give a solution to almost any problem, but this time she truly was helpless. She had no memories. No gadgets. No tricks. For the first time, the destinies of the five were completely out of their control.

Gradually, the five all regained consciousness. Whilst Disgust silently wept, Anger shouted angrily in vain, failing to elicit a response from their captors. Even Joy had become crestfallen, her signature smile having faded away entirely. At long last, the group heard a familiar voice from behind, a voice that filled Joy with dread. Several strong pairs of hands forced the emotions to turn around, which finally revealed the source of the intense white light.  
"Isn't it pretty?" Male Joy asked, pointing to an immense pillar of white light at the end of the bridge. Before the pillar was a large computer console, and beside it stood the other four "alternate" emotions, each holding a stolen core memory. "Do you know what it is? I'll give you each a guess. You first Joy…"  
"I… I don't know" Joy immediately admitted in defeat. She was in no mood to play games.  
"Is it the size of your ****** ego?" Anger furiously demanded. But suddenly, Sadness' eyes opened wide in shock. The pillar of light, the console and the core memories… the pieces had all started to come together, and that was when Sadness knew the truth.  
"The Core!" she gasped, and Male Joy nodded in approval.  
"Very impressive Sadness! So impressive in fact, I think you deserve to know the truth!" he replied.  
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Male Sadness asked. "Let's begin now and be done with it!"  
"Look at them though" Male Joy shot back. "They aren't going anywhere. Besides, they deserve it... Without them our plan could never have worked".  
"What are you talking about?" Anger asked. Despite them being bound, his hands were clenched into fists.  
"I'll tell you? Do you see that clock over there?" he asked. The emotions strained their eyes and sure enough, levitating above the monitor was a large, digital display. The numbers displayed a time of only two hours, although this was depleting quickly.

Meanwhile in the void, Riley was very weak, and was becoming weaker by the second. The visions had stopped completely and it was almost as if the darkness itself was closing in, strangling Riley and muffling what little life force she had left. Her time was running out and she knew it. Hope was fading. SHE was fading. For Riley, it looked as if her journey was coming to an end.

"Sadness… _your_ Sadness anyway, was right all along" Male Joy continued. "Using that console, we can harness the power of the core memories to revive Riley. Everything will go back to normal… well almost everything. We'll be sure to take good care of Riley, but I'm afraid you won't be so lucky".  
"But why?" Joy pleaded. "If you really cared about Riley, you wouldn't do all this".  
"The answer is simple" Male Joy explained. "Do you know how it fee-".  
"I knew you were crazy…" Disgust interrupted. "But I never knew you were BORING too".  
"Disgust… I highly recommend you shut your mouth, or I may have to get Anger to hurt you" he told her. He smiled; that had shut her up! "Anyway, moving on… The human body is fascinating contraption. You would find it surprising however, just how susceptible to corruption it is. Bribe some enforcers here and there… and you can quite easily turn a full recovery into a life-threatening coma!"  
" _You,_ You did this?" Joy asked in shock.  
"Yes… Yes I did!" her counterpart replied triumphantly. "But you needn't worry. She'll make a miraculous recovery, thanks to the emotions and I. Do you know how it feels? You have one purpose in life, one job to see through to the end. You practice it each and every day, just waiting for your chance. But that day never comes. I'm sick of simply being a sideshow to you ineffective, inefficient wastes. My waiting has finally payed off, and soon I'll be taking my rightful place in Headquarters, where I belong. Twelve years ago, we were good friends. We had the same ideals: to spread Joy. But it was ME who came #1 in training. It was ME who beat you at every hurdle. It was ME that was truly committed. But then YOU got commissioned in the end. That was the final straw. Not just for me, but for them too. Now look at me, do I look joyful? Before you die, I just want you to know that you did this to me, and you have no-one to blame but yourself!"

It was over. Years of pent up rage and frustration had exploded in a single, passionate outburst. And with that, Male Joy signalled to Sadness to begin the preparations for their task head. The five prisoners were simply left in stunned silence as Sadness began to type long sequences of code into the console, causing The Core to shine with the brightness of a new dawn.

Meanwhile, around a mile away at Backup Memory, a heated conversation was taking place.  
"But they're our friends!" Love pleaded to Regret. She had been lecturing him on the virtues of loyalty and friendship for over an hour now, and frankly he was beginning to regret ever starting the conversation.  
"Okay. Okay. I'll help" he conceded, fidgeting with his watch nervously. Five minutes later, the gates of Backup Memory creaked open, and a small entourage of emotions hurried out. Love and Regret were leading the pack of six or so figures, and together they marched along the road to The Core. They, after all, were loyal. They were going to help their old friends…


	8. Chapter eight: The End

***THIS IS IMPORTANT*. I would like to apologise for taking so long to update with the final chapter. School has just restarted for me, and my subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science and English) love to set the most ludicrous amount of homework ever! Expect more stories in the future, but slightly less frequently than I have pumped them out in the past. But without further delay:**

 **Here it is…The final battle! I intend this to be the longest and most complex chapter of all, the climax to the emotion's journey! Thank you for supporting me along this journey, and I assure you I have more fanfics (including for Inside Out) planned. As always, feedback is important, and it would also be amazing if some of you could check out my other stuff below! As an additional note, I have recently read The Maze Runner series, and they really are great reads.**

 **My tumblr ask blog for Inside Out:** **blog/askemotions**

 **My regular tumblr blog for cool stuff:** **blog/pokefanjack**

 **My other Inside Out fic, "Riley's Field Trip":** **s/11457111/1/Riley-s-Field-Trip**

· **My analysis on why Riley has mixed gender emotions:** **s/11461457/1/Four-theories-as-to-why-Riley-Anderson-has-mixed-gender-emotions**

All hope had evaporated from Joy's eyes. For well over an hour now, the alternates had been hard at work on the console, preparing to reboot Riley's mind. Their progress was marked by the pillar of light, which had been steadily widening and brightening since their work had begun. Now, miles above, previously hidden storm clouds were materialising, crackling with anticipation and full of electricity. Everyone present was aware something was crossing the horizon; something big!

Male Sadness' progress had been narrated gleefully by Male Joy, who seemed to draw great pleasure from the knowledge that his plan was slowly coming to fruition. Worse still, he had taunted and tormented each of the five during this time, making not-so idle threats and cruelly tilting their chairs over into the abyss.

Now he was over by the console, clasping his hands together eagerly.  
"It'll only be a few more minutes now boss" Male Sadness informed him. Hearing this, Male Joy let out a long cold laugh.  
"Then we can dispose of our guests!" he chuckled to himself. "But maybe… what do you think Sadness? Should we let them get one last look at their _precious_ Riley before we end them?" Both male Sadness and Female Anger considered this.  
"It would definitely make their demise all the more painful!" Anger concurred, and Sadness nodded in agreement.  
"Okay! We have a pla-" male Joy suddenly stopped. A loud, artificial voice had spoken a single message, one that was now being repeated for all to hear.  
"Cerebral reboot sequence initiated. Interface… unlocked. Please deposit power source…" the voice droned on. Hearing this, male Joy leant down beneath the console, producing a glowing yellow and blue core memory, the same one that had once powered Family Island. Surprisingly, rather than placing onto the console himself, a small blue mind worker appeared from nowhere, taking the orb from his hands. All male Joy did was smile back sweetly.  
"Gone on…" he beamed. "Like we agreed… then you get to come and work at Headquarters with us! It'll be a great time!" Hearing this, the naive mind worker hastily placed the five core memories onto the console, but almost immediately it was clear that something was wrong. Upon placing the third memory, beads of cold sweat had already begun to roll down the unfortunate mind worker's face, and by the time the fifth had been placed, a fierce light had begun to radiate from within his body.  
"Warning! Power surge imminent". That was all the computer had time to say before the poor worker disintegrated into nothing, millions of charged particles escaping from his form simultaneously. It was obvious what had happened. Male Joy had cheated the worker with the promise of a better life, yet another crime to add to the collection. But more importantly, the Core Memories were in place, the power source had been provided, and everything was going according to plan

Realising the moment of truth had finally come, the real Joy decided to attempt to stall her captor, silently motioning to the others to play along. It was a final, desperate attempt, but an attempt nonetheless.  
"You can't do this!" she shouted. "It won't work…" Hearing this, male Joy turned to face her. Of course he didn't doubt his plan; it had been in the works for years, but he decided to humour his prisoners. He had time; he would play along with their silly game.  
"And why is that exactly?" he replied confidently.  
"You think Riley won't notice the difference?" she cried. "You don't know her like we do!"  
"Yeah" Anger added angrily. "You think you're just gonna waltz up to Headquarters and take over, huh? Sorry, but you've got _fake_ written all over you!"  
"Hate to say it" Disgust cut in. "But for someone named Joy, you don't seem all that joyful… I doubt you could even do your job properly, so think about _that!"_ Fear also joined the fray.  
"And there's the fact that-"  
"ENOUGH!" male Joy yelled impatiently. He walked up to Joy and slapped her directly in the face, who fell back with a cry. "Time to go, fools!" he snapped, before turning on his heels and storming back to the console.

No sooner than three minutes later, the artificial voice spoke again.  
"Cerebral reboot protocol initiated. Time to reboot: five minutes". Above the console, a digital download bar was projected, steadily filling. Male Joy laughed again. In his mind, nothing could stop him now! But luckily for the five emotions, their sorry fate wasn't yet set in stone. Unbeknownst to them, a group of allies, led by Love, had secretly been observing them for the past thirty minutes. The group was headed by Love, with Regret as second in command. Behind them lay Acceptance, a pure white emotion who was totally in agreement that their plan was the best possible. Next was Ambition, a golden emotion that was determined to see the plan through to the bitter end. Finally there was Tolerance, who was trying her best not to complain as she lay on the jagged, rocky surface.  
"3…2…1…NOW!" Love whispered, and stood upright. She strode over the embankment, down the slope and directly towards male Joy, smiling all the way.

"Hey there Joy… whatcha doing?" she crowed, batting her eyelids at him seductively. It was the best act she could muster.  
"The final arrangements of course" he replied, his voice filled with confusion. Why was she here? He had told her many times to wait at the village, to know her place.  
" _Interesting_ " Love exclaimed. She edged closer and closer to the console, wrapping her arms around Joy in an affectionate gesture. "I'm only here to make sure everything goes…" she stroked his face. " _smoothly_ ".  
"The question is… what are you doing here?" His eyes narrowed as he considered the possibilities, but quickly opened wide again as Love got closer. The counterparts of Disgust, Anger and Fear continued to work feverishly, but male Sadness was surveying the situation closely. Male Joy was too preoccupied to notice that anything was wrong, as Love planted a single, warm kiss on his cheek. Before he knew it, Love had moved on to the console, inspecting the memory orbs closely.

"So… these are the orbs you've been after for so long?" she asked no-one in particular. Slowly but surely, her fingers curled around one, testing its weight and composition. Then her plan burst into life, as she grasped the orb and brought it high above her head. Male Sadness just had time to cry out, but it was too late.  
"STOP HER!" he yelled, breaking Joy out of the dreamy stupor he been lured into. Joy twisted around, just in time to see a yellow and red core memory plummet to the ground with considerable force. The plan worked perfectly. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as the orb impacted the ground, before a thud and an unmistakable ' _crack_ ' broke the silence. A column of crimson red flame roared into the sky, casting dark, bloody shadows across every inch of the terrain. Love and Joy were thrown backwards by the sheer force of the blast, their bodies flung away like dolls, landing on opposite sides of the vast pillar of light, whilst Anger and Fear were painfully jolted into the console, the shock dazing them. Disgust and Sadness however, hadn't been so lucky. The shockwave had sent Disgust backwards, off the edge of the bridge and down in the darkness. He had already disappeared from view. Sadness meanwhile, had been tossed forward into the column of light, and with a sickening 'fizzle' had vanished forever.

Once again, a moment of complete silence and stillness gripped The Core. It seemed to stretch on for minutes, hours, or even days, although in reality it lasted no more than a few seconds. Male Joy groaned in agony, massaging his shoulder. It had been crushed against a pile of stones as he landed, and although he had no bones, the pain was all too real. At the same moment, the other four emotions charged forward, making a beeline towards the prisoners. They reached Joy and the others, and immediately began to release them from their bindings. They would need them for the plan ahead. Regret absent-mindedly noticed that the digital timer above the console had stopped; a blessing he was grateful for.

As if on cue, the monotonous, computerised voice spoke to confirm this.  
"Power source interrupted. Power salvage, emergency continuation protocol initiated. Please reactivate the console to restart reboot sequence…" It wasn't over yet. Love and her teammates may have freed the five, but their job was far from over. They still had to awaken Riley, and do it correctly this time. Worse still, with only one-hundred and fifty seconds left on the clock, they would have to hurry.

"Thanks guys" Joy gasped as she was released. A new hope filled her eyes, hope that had completely vanished only moments before.  
"Yeah… we may just survive this yet!" Anger added. Sadness opened her mouth to speak, but that was when they saw them. To their horror, the female Anger and Fear had recovered faster than anticipated, and with a single swift motion, Anger's finger stabbed down onto the console. Immediately the timer restarted, mercilessly ticking down.  
"THREE MINUTES TO REBOOT" the voice spoke, louder than ever. It was clear from their expressions that the alternates were desperate; their faces full of panic. They were ready to see their mission through to the end, with or without their leader. Female Anger pressed another button, and the bridge began to retract, a gap opening in the middle and widening with each passing second. If they didn't act fast, there would be nothing the heroines could do.

There was no time. Out of a combination of panic, desperation and duty, Joy ran forward as fast as her legs could carry her. At the last moment before she reached the edge, she leaped, her momentum carrying her forward. For a terrible moment, it seemed that she wasn't going to make it, that she was going to tumble into the infinite darkness below. But somehow, the yellow emotion's arms managed to catch the edge of the other side, and she pulled herself up frantically. Facing her two remaining adversaries, she attempted in vain to reason with them.  
"Anger, Fear" she shouted. "What you two are doing is wrong… you must know that! It's all over now. Soon Riley will be awake again, and you can go home. Your time will come, I promise!" She hoped her words would be enough to sway them. With complete control of the console, there was almost no limit to the damage they could cause.  
"And what if it doesn't?" female Fear replied, her cohort nodding in agreement. "We were fed that lie for twelve years, what makes it any different now!?"  
"It's so easy for you to say Joy" female Anger began. "You haven't endured what we have. You don't know what we've been through. You don't understand!" Inside, Joy was conflicted. She simply didn't know what to say, if there was a correct answer at all.  
"You've always wanted to help Riley" Joy explained slowly. "The best you can do for her now is to do your duty. Things will get better I promise, but you've been brainwashed. Your Joy doesn't want the best for you, only for himself. For once, do the right thing. You aren't alone anymore. You have us".

There was a long silence. Miraculously, it appeared the two were actually considering what Joy had said.  
"TWO MINUTES TO REBOOT". It was decision time, and they knew it. Finally, female Fear let out a sigh of defeat, and the two began to step away from the console. They didn't get far.  
"Not another step!" male Joy ordered. He had managed to limp to his feet, and had witnessed everything. Meanwhile, Love was still out, having been rendered unconscious by the blast. To make matters worse, his hands were clutching a bright silver object. It was spherical, will several bright dials and buttons scattered across its surface.  
"I'm sick of your sentimental, wishy-washy nonsense. You see this? This is an amnesia machine! You really thought it would be that easy to _betray_ me? To forget everything I've taught you? Well, one blast of this and you'll be the one Riley's mind forgets!"  
"Joy-" Anger began, but the enraged yellow emotion was having none of it. His finger tightened around the device and a high pitched scream resounded from within. For several seconds it appeared as if nothing had happened, but then Anger let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her body, starting from the feet up, was turning to dust. She never had the chance to say goodbye before the transformation was complete, and she crumbled into nothing before Fear.

That was the last straw. Fear and Anger had always been close throughout their years spent Backup Memory, and something inside Fear snapped. With a cry of pain and a look of ice, she threw herself towards Joy, her arms flailing wildly. Any pretence of fear had been forgotten; now only rage remained. Joy twisted the device, attempting to reload it, but there simply wasn't enough time. The two figures collided in a painful embrace, both struggling for control as they tumbled backwards, closer and closer to the edge. Female Joy started forward to intervene, but there was nothing she could do.  
" _You killed Anger_!" Fear yelled over and over, forcing the device from Joy's hands. She fired wildly, but the invisible beam of high-energy electrons missed completely, travelling far into the distance. The device fell to the floor and rolled over the edge, just before its two users joined it.  
"ONE MINUTE TO REBOOT". The mechanical voice was almost drowned out by a barrage of curses and yells from male Joy. He had found a handhold at the last second and had clung on with all of his might, Fear hanging from his right leg precariously.  
"LET GO OF ME!" he demanded, desperately trying to shake the purple figure off. Now Fear truly was scared. "If you don't let go now, we're both going in!"

Whilst the other group of emotions watched helplessly from the other side of the bridge, female Joy ran forward to help. Male Joy cast her look of pure hatred.  
"Pull him up Joy!" she ordered; her usually cheerful voice was icy cold.  
"Go to hell!" was the reply. She couldn't have saved her if she had tried. With a final kick, female Fear was sent plummeting into the darkness, and that was that.  
"THIRTY SECONDS TO REBOOT". Once again, time froze for a moment. Joy clung on with what little strength remained, but it was clear his grip was failing.  
"Joy please… help me" he begged. Female Joy wandered to the edge, her face completely devoid of emotion.  
"Help? You want help?" she replied. With a fatigued cry, Joy lost his grip with one hand, now hanging on with only one.  
"Help me!" he repeated in desperation. "It isn't fair… I beat you! I'm the best for Riley and you know it! If you really care about her, you'll help me up!".  
"TEN SECONDS TO REBOOT". One by one, his fingered uncurled. His counterpart remained still, watching him with a mixture of pity and disgust. Across the bridge, the other emotions watched this unfold in awe. Sadness in particular couldn't believe what she was seeing. Joy, normally so happy and content, was now the merciless one.

"FIVE SECONDS TO REBOOT". With a cry of hatred, Joy let go, plummeting into the darkness below.  
" _JOY!_ " was his last word, before he vanished into the maelstrom. The group watched him grow smaller and smaller, before he disappeared forever. It was over. All five alternates were gone, and their plan had failed miserably. But their celebration was cut short as the final seconds elapsed.  
"FIVE"  
"FOUR"  
"THREE"  
"TWO"  
"ONE"

A brilliant ball of white light exploded from the beam, enveloping everything in its path. From Joy, to the others, to the core memories, no-one was safe from the explosion. It travelled outwards, covering every inch of Riley's mind, reinvigorating the life force that had been lost. Then everything was silent. The Core lay abandoned, the console deactivated and the beam of light narrow again. Far away, at Headquarters, the five emotions awoke. Their journey was over.

In San Francisco General Hospital, a miracle occurred. The heart rate monitor raced to life one more. All vital signs unexpectedly stabilised. A nurse rushed into the room, completely bemused by what she was seeing. Five minutes later, Riley Andersen opened her eyes…

 **If you wish for me to write an epilogue for this story, please tell me in your reviews. I also have two one-shot short stories planned, so expect future updates on this account. Thank you for supporting me throughout this journey, and I look forward to hearing your final feedback** **J**


	9. Epilogue: An Incredible Recovery

**Here is the epilogue! I decided to write it after all, considering the great response I got for the "final" chapter… this will be different from the rest, and will explore the aftermath of the events of the story. Enjoy, and please check out some of my other stuff below!**

 **My tumblr ask blog for Inside Out:** **blog/askemotions**

 **My regular tumblr blog for cool stuff:** **blog/pokefanjack**

 **My other Inside Out fic, "Riley's Field Trip":** **s/11457111/1/Riley-s-Field-Trip**

· **My analysis on why Riley has mixed gender emotions:** **s/11461457/1/Four-theories-as-to-why-Riley-Anderson-has-mixed-gender-emotions**

The recovery came so quickly, it seemed like a miracle. The doctors had discussed the case in detail, and all of them had reached the same, mind-boggling conclusion: Riley Anderson shouldn't have… _couldn't have_ recovered in the time she had. But it had happened all the same. Two weeks after she had awakened, a twelve-year old girl stepped through the doors of San Francisco General Hospital and out into the sunlight. Despite her near death predicament only days before, Riley seemed healthier than ever, walking briskly as her parents followed from behind.  
"Ready to go?" her father asked.  
"Yep" she replied, and together they entered the family car and sped away, away from the terrible place known as The Hospital.

Through crowded city roads, backstreet alleys and leafy suburbs they continued, and although she didn't know it, Mr and Mrs Andersen had a surprise waiting for Riley at home. The car pulled into the driveway of the family home and the group got out, walking towards the door in silent anticipation. Riley opened the door, stepped through and gasped.  
"SURPRISE!" an entourage of familiar faces yelled. In the kitchen sat almost every friend, family member and acquaintance Riley had ever encountered, all beaming at her. Even Riley's friends from before the move were there, eager to see her after all that had happened. On the table sat an exquisite cake, three layers, with white and pink icing and the words: 'welcome home Riley!' decorating the top. A banner hung across the wall read the same, warm message. As for Riley herself, she was almost lost for words. Only one thing was certain: today was going to be a good day, a good day indeed!

Meanwhile in Riley's mind, things were also slowly returning to normal. After the five had awakened, they had immediately been thrust into a hectic schedule, working tirelessly to re-instil order amongst the mind workers and get everyone working again. This period of recuperation had been overseen by dozens of enforcers, making sure that the denizens of Riley' subconscious stayed there, and that the last pockets of pandemonium amongst the workers were stamped out. After their task was complete, they had all made their way to a portal and left, without saying a word.

Coincidentally, on the same day that Riley was discharged from the hospital, a strange letter had been delivered to Headquarters. At first the five had been worried; had they done something wrong? But all of their worries melted like ice once they opened the letter and read it. The curly, pink handwriting gave away the sender's identity almost immediately. It had been sent by their newest friend: Love.

Dear Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. Things are going great here at Backup Memory, or at least more normal than they have been for a while! Regret and I have been missing you sooooooo much! Things are finally back to the way they used to be before Joy took over: peaceful, with a really chilled out vibe…

More importantly though, I'm writing this to let you know that a service will be held in honour of those poor souls who disappeared at The Core. Not a day passes that I don't think about them, and I'm sure you this applies to you too. The ceremony will be in two days' time, in the main square of Backup Memory. We can arrange for a special portal to be opened, so I can't wait to see you there!

With Love,

Love…

Sure enough, two days later a portal had been opened in Headquarters, and with heavy hearts the five had attended the so-called "funeral" service. It had been a sombre affair, with a large group there, all dressed in traditional funeral attire. Joy had substituted her normal dress for a black equivalent, and Disgust had begrudgingly worn black earrings. She didn't even complain that they weren't _in_ this season. Both Fear and Anger wore suits, and Sadness had replaced her sweater with a simple, black gown. A procession had paraded through the centre of the town, led by Love, carrying four appropriately coloured urns. After all, there were no bodies. But they all noticed one – a yellow urn – was missing. They didn't ask why. It was a long and difficult day, but a necessary one.

In time, female Joy's promise fulfilled itself. Three years later, when Alex Sampson accepted Riley's date to the junior prom, Love finally took her place at Headquarters, which continued to expand and develop over the years. The very next month, Riley discovered her next passion in life: filmmaking and Ambition promptly arrived at Headquarters. When, at age seventeen, her parents finally decided to have another child, it took all of Riley's tolerance to deal with the constant crying. Tolerance had seen to that. At age nineteen, Riley was finally dropped from her hockey team – she simply wasn't good enough – and despite fiercely contesting the decision, deep down she felt the icy cold sting of regret over not having trained more. This development continued and continued for many years to come, delivering many more faces and never ceasing to amaze. But Joy always remembered how insignificant this was. After all, they were lucky to be there at all. They were lucky to be alive.

A community formed. More core memories were created. The puberty alarm exploded into life and continued to wreak havoc for several years after that. Throughout all of Riley's young adult life, the five never forgot their adventure, and what they had all seen and done on it. And they never forgot the four unlucky backups, victims of neglect that had all met a terrible fate one way or another. They never forgot their bravery. They never forgot their sacrifice, for Riley.

The End

 **What a rollercoaster ride! Reviews are appreciated, and be ready for more in the future. This has been a story by Jack Roland, aka The Ordinary Author!**


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